eBay’s Latest Update With Product Identifiers

Many eBay sellers may have received from eBay the message titled ‘Updates to the next stage of our product identifier journey’.

To some this may have seen it as a long journey, a journey of confusion and stress but to the majority of us contributing at SellerHub.TV we remain positive at the changes eBay are trying to implement.

So if you have not had the chance to read the update yet or have not yet received it then read on further for the key updates mentioned.

What Was In The Update

Below are direct quotes from the update:

From October 2017, we’ll require product identifiers for all seller refurbished items.

We’re postponing our acceptance of new types of product identifiers, such as Google, Amazon and self-created numbers, to 2018.

We’ll also be delaying the removal of the ‘Does not apply’ option from product identifier fields to 2018.

We’ve updated our bundles and lots features so you can quickly and easily differentiate these from your other listings. Make sure you clearly identify any bundles or lots listings so they receive maximum visibility in search and our new product and browse pages. You can find these features in Seller Hub > Listings > Create listing.

So this update seems overly positive for all; sellers who are not yet ready to commit to providing MPN’s and Barcodes have a little breathing room plus eBay have included the ability to set listings as bundle products which should help them receive “maximum visibility”. Taking advantage of this bundle listing feature can be done in your create listings screen in eBay Seller Hub.

Why Do We Need To Use Product Identifiers?

We are now living in the digital age where the rise of voice search will soon overtake the use of the traditional catalogue. Companies such as eBay, Amazon, Google and several others know that this is the future of consumer behaviour and for the customer to get the very best shopping experience, companies like this need a database of product attributes that can help describe your product more accurately when it comes to search.

The example of the near future is this, I’m in need of more cups for my kitchen as I am going to have some family stay over. When I decide to ask Alexa (or my other intelligent personal assistant system) for a white china cup and you haven’t told Amazon that the cup you sell is white in the colour attribute and china in the material attribute, then the likelihood is Alexa will ignore your product.

Google also realises this and eBay is also reliant on Google’s search results and Google Shopping which eBay use often. (Google Shopping also has item specifics)

The benefit is that by filling out these item specifics will only help boost the visibility of your listing on eBay and hopefully increase your sales.